


A Second More

by aviatordame



Category: Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity (Video Game), The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-13 16:15:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29156442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aviatordame/pseuds/aviatordame
Summary: A final gift from Terrako is offered.[Divergence of AoC!Mipha and BotW!Link]
Relationships: Link/Mipha (Legend of Zelda)
Comments: 15
Kudos: 45





	A Second More

**Author's Note:**

> So, we know what happens to Wild!Link, and we know what happens to AoC!Mipha.  
> What if they met, if only momentarily? In other words, pain.

A final gift from Terrako is offered.

Initially, Lady Mipha wonders if she is hallucinating. As Terrako guides her through time, fire and blood scar her vision; the cries of those she loves, the inevitable defeat of her comrades, her armies, and a pain which feels as if she has been torn in two. A Blight, hideous and terrifying, hurling its long spear straight through her spine, crushing her lungs, and she hears a voice, a familiar voice, screaming and wailing; a voice belonging to a boy, a man; somebody she knows all too well, but cannot see in this particular moment.

Until eventually, the visions disappear, and she is now standing in a temple. The Goddess Hylia appears to _grin_ down at her, its statue frightening. Mipha is shadowed in the statue’s might. The temple is moss-eaten, windows smashed, the roof having caved in hundreds of years ago. _She has been here before_ , very recently, in fact. Except, the last time she visited this temple, it was still standing; it was whole and contained its spiritual majesty.

And there he is.

Link.

But, she realises immediately, this is not the Link she knows.

It is as if Link has seen his worst nightmare. He stares at her, face awfully pale, and his body trembles. She can’t fathom whether Link is angry, upset, or disturbed by the sight of her, and, for the first second or so, _the way he looks at her_ ––hurts. Link’s face is bruised, cut; his eyes heavy, hair unkept, and he doesn’t stand with pride like the Link she knows. This Link’s shoulders are drooped, his body almost _hanging_ in defeat, and she thinks,

_my poor love,_

_what have they done to you?_

Then he drops to his knees. A fallen knight before his princess, looking up at her, speechless. He can’t _speak_. The man is in shock. Tears blur his vision and he lowers his head, gasps, and a roar, so _strangled_ and _broken_ , rips from his throat. Mipha is _struck_ , unable to move; petrified. She has never heard such a noise; it’s unsettling. This man grieves so hard, his lungs shudder, collapsing, and, _oh_ , she has to help him. She has to do _something_.

When she joins him on the shattered ground, she reaches for him; and the moment she does, Link jolts, staring at her, his eyes pleading, _are you real? Tell me. Tell me I have not gone mad_ ––

She cradles his wonderful face between her hands, strokes his hair, and she can see everything: all he has been through, and he has done it alone. Those he misses, those he could not save, those he would go to the ends of the earth for. His entire world, destroyed. All he has lived for, breathed for, loved, crumbled into ash, a mere memory ready to be discarded forever.

As he watches her, touches her face, just _needing_ to _know_ she is alive, real––this sad smile reaches his lips, and he exhales, a burst of agony shooting through him. For Link to discover, in another world, Mipha survived. _That is a mercy_. His Champion tunic is almost in shreds, and the Master Sword seems to oppress the knight. Mipha inhales sharply as her heart splinters, fractured and the loose edges cutting away at her. She holds him tighter.

Link’s voice is gentle.

‘Do you remember me?’

The very question nearly makes her burst into tears.

‘Of course,’ Mipha’s words are cut with a hint of hysteria. How could he ask her that? Never, _never_ , would Mipha forget about him. At her response, Link trembles viciously, scrunching his eyes shut,

and cries.

Immediately Mipha pulls him closer. He falls into her, his body suddenly lifeless and limp as she tries her best to keep him steady. Mipha holds Link so fiercely, her body starts to ache, and she can feel his tears as he weeps against her. What little soul and energy the knight has left, he _bleeds_ it all, and Mipha struggles to sustain the weight of all he carries.

Mipha’s lips are like heaven to his skin. She kisses his wet face, his jawline, his neck. Kisses him until the pain stops. Her very touch so soothing to his body. Link slowly begins to calm down, the tears eventually slow, and he allows himself to be held by her; listens to her calm whispers,

_It’s all okay, darling._

_I’m here._

_I’ve got you._

‘I love you.’

The princess’s confession burns, a shock from the hollow abyss inflicted upon him. Her words sink through, like magical healing, massaging and stitching the wounds; suddenly, at least for the time being, a man with life and soul. No longer scattered pieces, but complete.

She rests his forehead to his, never once letting him go.

Link closes his eyes, desperate and forsaken.

‘Won’t you stay?’

Here. Stay here. In this life. _Stay with me_.

Mipha knows. Mipha knows she can’t, that Terrako has only offered her this gift temporarily; this is not everlasting. Soon, she will disappear, and Link, _her Link_ , shall be all alone, and to do that, _to do that to him_ , is overwhelming. She wishes she could say _yes_ , but she is all too aware of whom waits for her back home. The Link _she_ knows, the Link _she_ fought alongside with.

But, to do this to him, to leave him, she can barely breathe.

When he kisses her, she endures all he has; he kisses her, a man possessed, torn and forlorn. Beautiful, kind, passionate and desperate. Levitating from the destruction beneath, almost floating, his face glowing, a gasp, hot on her lips, and then he comes alive, blooming and bright; reincarnated.

His hands move up and down the length of her back, the need to touch every part of her is all consuming. His palms gently brush the velvet of her sapphire fins. A sigh vibrating his heart as she wounds her fingers in his hair, tugging so softly, her body perfectly pressed to his; all her warmth, wonder, brilliance, everything he would die for. And she confesses a quiet moan, the sound so vivid and brutal to his ears, piercing him down the length of his entire body, opening him up, all death and misery and love pouring freely.

As time begins to disappear, she struggles to tear herself away from him. For a moment, it almost seems possible that if he keeps a hold of her, she will stay. Yet they both know what awaits them, what fate has already written, and the absence of his lips is enough to break a wail from her. Link watches, helpless, as her body begins to fade before him, but before she’s gone from him entirely, Mipha removes her Champion garb, practically shoving the material into his open hands.

Gentle, but with enough force, she presses her palm to where his heart beats. Tugs the garb closer to him, and her eyes, _screaming all promise_ , cradle Link’s broken bones and heavy heart.

‘Don’t fall, my love.’

_I will never leave you._

_I never left you._

_Hold on tight._

And he watches her, clinging to her blue garb, as she disappears, returning to a place he will never know. The moment she is gone, gone forever, he presses Mipha’s garb to his face, and breathes in her scent, scrunches his eyes shut, relishing in the slight mercy that in another world, out there, he has her. He has her, always. That, one way or another, his life is exactly as it ought to be.


End file.
